Stoner continues his domination with Qatar pole

By Gordon Hatch - MotoGP correspondent

Story Highlights

Stoner flies to season's first pole

Repsol Honda 1-2 with Pedrosa

2010 champion Lorenzo on front row

Stoner takes first pole of 2011 MotoGP season in devastating fashion

Casey Stoner heads the grid going into the first race of the 2011 MotoGP
season tomorrow at the Losail International Circuit in Doha, Qatar. The
Repsol Honda rider dominated the hour-long qualifying session on his RC212V
as he did in all free practice sessions and also in the two-day final test
at the same track last week.

"We can't ask for a much better weekend, everything has gone well and the
team have made all the right steps and gradually improved the bike as the
weekend progressed," smiled Stoner. "Tonight I was able to achieve good,
consistent lap times again on the hard tyre and this is important for the
race tomorrow."

Dani Pedrosa of

Photo by: Hazrin Yeob Men Shah

The only man able to keep Stoner honest is his teammate Dani Pedrosa who
was also on the top of the timing sheets for a time tonight and in the
previous free practice sessions. The two factory Honda riders are the only
two men to lap consistently in the low 1m 54's while Stoner's best time of
1m 54.137s saw him smash his previous best times and ahead of Pedrosa's
best time of 1m 54.342s.

"The weekend has been very good for us so far, I've been running at the top
in every session and I'm very happy to be on the front row in Losail for the
first time; this is a big improvement for me. Nevertheless, we have to focus
on the race," Pedrosa said.

The third and final slot on the front row was secured by reigning MotoGP
champion Jorge Lorenzo who showed that despite his factory Yamaha YZR M1
being somewhat down on overall power compared to the Hondas, he was well
able to lap in the mid to high 1m 55's and setting best time of 1'54.947
that Lorenzo set while thinking about points rather than the overall win
tomorrow.

"There were some really impressive lap times out there tonight in the
session," said the Mallorcan. "We are still quite far behind the front but
our goal is to finish on the podium and that is in my mind for tomorrow. My
race pace is pretty good; I think I can keep running 1'55.7s or maybe
1'55.8s. We will finalise our set up in warm up and try to achieve that
tomorrow."

We can't ask for a much better weekend.

Casey Stoner

The two Yamahas were split at the end of the session by the ever-improving
Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini) after he set a time of 1m
54.988s near the end of the hour putting the Italian just ahead of Ben
Spies who was also very consistent throughout qualifying and the free
practice sessions. Spies' time of 1m 55.095s was the first time outside of
the 1m 54s bracket but with most riders in the 1m 55s in race simulation
Spies sits in a good position for tomorrow's season opener.

The big surprise of the session came when Hector Barbera (Mapfre Aspar) was
the first Ducati rider on the time sheets and while the paddock whispers
are certainly surrounding factory Marlboro Ducati and its riders Nicky
Hayden and Valentino Rossi's low placings, Barbera sits 6th on the grid with
his best time of 1m 55.223s.

Following Barbera into 7th was the third Repsol Honda of Andrea Dovizioso
in a session to forget despite 'Dovi' forming a Honda one-two-three lockout
earlier in the race weekend. The Italian rider's time of 1m 55.229s sees
him ahead of eight-place man and MotoGP rookie Cal Crutchlow (Monster
Yamaha Tech 3) who took the spot ahead of seven-times MotoGP Champion
Valentino Rossi despite nursing an injured shoulder and a heavily-damaged
little finger.

Valentino Rossi

Photo by: Ducati Corse

Rossi's weekend seems at a standstill with the Italian not able to push
past a certain level because of his shoulder that is still not 100% healed
after being operated on at Christmas. The first of the factory Ducati's,
Rossi posted a time of 1m 55.637s to take ninth spot ahead of his former
teammate Colin Edwards (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) who took the last spot in
the top ten with a 1m 55.647s.

Randy de Puniet worked hard on his Pramac Racing Ducati to take 11h spot
with a 1m 55.656s, the Frenchman not able to get the satellite Ducati to
work beyond a certain limit. De Puniet was followed closely by Hiroshi
Aoyama for the San Carlo Honda Gresini squad. Aoyama posted a 1m 55.724s
that was good enough for 12th.

The rest of the MotoGP, 125cc and Moto2 paddock's have joined together in a
show of solidarity and support of Aoyama and the whole of Japan after the
recent natural disasters that have hit the country. The satellite Honda
rider was still able to keep ahead of second of the factory Ducati's as
Nicky Hayden struggled with his GP11 as he has done on previous occasions
at Qatar on the Ducati. Hayden, who won the championship in 2006, managed a
1m 55.881s to take 13th position for tomorrow's race.

Pramac Racing's Loris Capirossi is also struggling with the Ducati and he
also is unable to get the Ducati to work beyond the level where he stopped
tonight setting a best time of Team 1m 56.323s and the first rider to be
outside the 1m 55s mark. The veteran Italian was tracked by the incoming
rookie Czech Republic rider Karel Abraham who has looked exciting at times
on his Cardion AB Motoracing Ducati.

The last man home was reigning Moto2 Champion Toni Elias (1m 57.992s) who
is having a nightmare on this LCR Honda. Elias has struggled to get to
grips with the RC212V with one of his main problems being that he can't
seem to get enough heat into his bike's rear Bridgestone.

Suzuki fans will be happy to hear that Alvaro Bautista who crashed heavily
twice this week and subsequently suffered a broken left femur yesterday, is
comfortable in hospital after having corrective surgery on his leg.
Bautista plans to return to Spain early next week to begin his recuperation
with a view to being back in MotoGP as soon as possible.

Despite the team's best efforts to fly in test rider Nobuatsu Aoki from
disaster-stricken Japan, ex-GP rider John Hopkins or other riders in the
Moto2 paddock to substitute, they have been unsuccessful. There is a silver
lining for the Suzuki fans however that comes in the form of John Hopkins
who will come straight from preparing for his upcoming season in British
Superbikes where he also is riding a Suzuki to race for the MotoGP team in
the next round at Jerez, Spain.